Flight Review Done

 

Yesterday morning John Murphey reviewed my flying, planning, etc.  It was good fun and I learned a few things flying Fred's C-172.  The first lesson was, I should have used a notch of flaps for the takeoff from Gordonsville on a warm humid morning with 2 big guys.  We've only got about 40 feet at the end of the 2,000 foot strip.  Thanks, Mike for the photos.  Yup, it's slightly up hill from where I lifted off.  We went over to Orange where there's a longer runway and clear approaches.  We had planned to do it last weekend but I said no to the marginal conditions, which got worse shortly after putting the plane back in the hangar, much nicer yesterday.

Now I need some nice flying weather before they close the runway, or I leave for the Antique Fly-in, Blakesburg, and then the 50th Stearman Fly-in, Galesburg.

2 More Days of Flying

 Yesterday evening I flew for about 15 minutes and gave it up.  It was hot, haze and bouncy.  The visibility was only about 3-5 miles, no fun.  Today was forecast to be drier and cooler.  I didn't believe it would change so much without windy conditions behind the front.  Actually it was a very nice morning.  We had a gentle breeze down runway 5, about 20 miles visibility and calm air to about 2500 feet.

It was 68 F when I took off.  Climbing, the CHT never got above 425F.  At cruise it stayed in the low 370s F and the oil temp. pegged at 180F.  Overall a happy flying day.

Looks like the date stamp is off by 1 day.  It's really the 1st.  My Biennial Flight Review expires today.  Hopefully I can get that done next week and get back to flying.  They still don't have a firm date to close the runway.

Going past our house on my way east to Lake Anna.  Lake Anna is the cooling pond for North Anna Nuclear power plant.  I have some friends who live across the lake from the plant but I decided not to go that far east.

The bridge behind the strut is for route 522.  There's a nice seafood restaurant in the SE corner of the bridge.

The house below the wings belongs to Nicole and Ben Waddy.  It's part of their old family farm.  Nicole helps with soil work on some of the wastewater systems I design.  More of their other relatives are hidden under the wing.

We have 3 big green houses in the area.  I did the wastewater system for 2 of them.

We also have a lot of poultry growers around here, big coups all around.

This is Woodberry Forest School.  It's NW of the town of Orange. Tennis courts, riding stables, skeet shooting range.  I think they actually go to classes as well.

I'm told it's a very good school.

Looking east at the town of Orange on my way back to the airport, about 5 miles south.

Over an hour of fun flying.  Nice end to the month of July.

Time to go visit our new grandson Taylor.  He's going to have a big RC model of the Fly Baby hanging in his bedroom, got'a bring 'em up right.

Another Warm Evening Flying

 When I took off this evening it was still 90 degrees F.  The motor temps were about the same as yesterday so I flew for 1 1/4 hours.

The lake is Lake Louisa where we live.  We live in the cheap seat, not along the lake.  It's peaceful.

I'm having fun.

I'm northeast of Gordonsville Airport (GVE) and about 2 miles from Orange County Airport (OMH), in front of the pitot mast.

The last picture is southwest of GVE heading back to the airport to land.

Good fun all around.

Our newest grandson, Taylor, came home from the hospital this evening.  Can't wait to visit.

Cylinder Cooling Change and New Chocks

 Sunday and Monday were hot and wet, with high winds aloft, so I decided to make another change to try reducing the cylinder head temperature.

I've shortened the cowl outlet skirt and opened the size of the outlet.  I decided to rivet a piece of aluminum to the short skirt to lengthen it back to 3 1/2", where it started.  It now covers the full width of the cowl.  The original was only on the middle half of the cowl.

I used the pattern from the last skirt to create the blank .  Once I added the rivet holes I trimmed the bottom edge to 3 1/2".

This change about doubled the height of the skirt.  It's a little close to the LH exhaust pipe so I hammered a bump to give a little more clearance.

It looks good.  We need to go flying.

A couple weeks ago I made some new chocks for when I'm hand propping the motor.  I wanted bigger chocks which would be harder to jump if the throttle wasn't closed as the motor started.  I don't want to get chopped up by the prop.  I made these from a piece of a 6x6.  The other chocks were made from a piece of 4x4.

I used the table saw blade to carve away some of the bottom and more of where the tire touches.  I like then, they won't be easy to jump over.

Like the small chocks I tied the rope so they always fit the wheels.  

I kept getting in the cockpit without removing them so I made the rope long enough to hang the end on the Pitot mast.  That way I can see the rope when I go to step on the wing, to get in the cockpit.  It works.

Yesterday was hot but nice otherwise, a good day to see if the skirt changed the CHT, and for flying in shirt sleeves.  It was still 88 degrees F when I took off at 6 pm.  The CHT got up to 435 F at traffic pattern altitude where it had been pushing 460 F on cooler days.  Cruising at 76 mph and 2200 rpm the temperature stabilized in the low to mid 390s.  It's not the solution but it is better.  Oil temperature settled to 205 F.

I flew over and checked out the Corn Maze west of Orange, in front of the strut.  There's a sunflower, a pig, and I think a butterfly.  I'm not sure what the other small things are, maybe just the maze.

I flew for over 1 hour.  It was really nice.

Flying 3 Days in A Row - After Waiting 2 Months

 After 2 months of poor weather and being crazed busy with work, I finally got to fly again.

It won't last long.  The 1st of August they are closing the runway for 120 days to re-pave/re-construct it.  Around 1955 they scraped up as much dirt as they could from the airport property and created the existing paved runway.  It's 40 feet wide by 2,300 feet long, has a big rolling "S" from one end to the other, and the cracks in the 65 year old pavement have become weed gardens.  The wizards of smart have decided they can scrape up more dirt to mostly flatten it, but not level it.  The south, high, end of the runway is at the property line so there is no way to lower it without cutting down the neighbors property.  There will never be enough dirt to raise the north end high enough for level.  It will be nice to have the cracks gone, but it looks like we'll loose our grass taxiway/landing area.

We had a couple afternoons in the mid 80s and calm, very nice flying.  The motor is still running hot but I have more ideas to try.  I did manage to fly about 40 minutes with the cylinder head temp at 400 degrees F.  By then the oil temp was creeping up on the red line so I gave up.  I had fun though.

Below is Montpelier. President James Madison's home.  He's the guy responsible for much of our Constitution.  When Mrs. DuPont owned it she kept here WACO at the Gordonsville Airport.  The airport is just behind Merry Mountain, the tallest of the 3 peaks beside our downwind.

I went back out this morning for some cooler air.  It was hazy looking east but nice otherwise.  I flew for almost an hour before the turbulence started and I headed home.

Mike Colburn, who keeps a C-172 in the hangar next to me, took these pictures of my landing.  I'm landing on 23.  The trees are not as close as they look unless you're taking of on 05 on a hot day.

I felt a small bounce, but his pictures make it look perfect.  The Fly Baby is easy enough to keep straight as long as you are quick and gentle with the rudder and fly it until it stops.  

Happy pilot heading back to the hangar.

I do like the paint job.  The research and effort were worth it.

Flying 2 Days In A Row

 Yesterday was another warm summery day.  I flew for about 40 minutes.  It was about 80 degrees when I took off.  The cylinder head temp. ran right around 400 F cruising but the warmer air let the oil temp climb close to red line.  I had fun though and may have some more ideas to try solving the temp. problem.

I headed north for a change.  I'm about 3 miles north here, looking back at the airport.

The church below is Saint Isadore the Farmer, we joined after building our current house.  The road, which runs past the airport is US 15.

Here I'm about 7 miles north, looking back at the airport.  The town of Orange, Va. is off the left wing.  Orange airport is just out of the picture, about where the strut runs off the left edge.

Another nice evening for flying.  I'm looking forward to warm enough days that I can fly at sun up.  The perfect way to start a day.

Finally A Nice Evening For Flying

 We've had a month of gusty winds across the runway.  Yesterday evening was perfect, low to mid 80s and a slight breeze almost down runway 23.

After a month, the trees are all leafed out.  No more looking down through them.  It makes it harder to navigate since the trees hide the roads.

It was nice to be flying in calm warm air.

The picture on the right is looking west past Southwest Mountain towards the Blue Ridge, at the horizon.

The picture below is looking east.  We do have a lot of trees.

The picture on the right is looking to the northeast.  Gordonsville is after all the horse farms.

Looking down on Barboursville Vineyards.  The mansion ruin is in the center, tiny dot of brickwork from here.

A good time was had by all.